Mike McGuire, an aide to Ald. Jim Witkowiak, sent an email to arts advocate Faythe Levine within the hour that reads:

"we get calls daily from people living in inner city areas who are in real despair over gang crime and the fact that their homes and alleys are defaced by graffiti, often weekly or more. These people are severely and directly affected by this and are badly hurt. Most are stuck there and cannot escape it. Many are miserable over it.

"Now we have others who live in much better neighborhoods and are not directly affected by this plague.

"Some consider themselve’s art lovers and seem to get satisfaction by pontificating from their nearest Starbucks about how the rest of us should really appreciate “urban art”.

"Our concern is with those living in the affected neighborhoods…not the arts lovers who do not so reside.

"And yes…we both consider graffiti in any form to be garbage and worse."

Setting aside for the moment that this is a profoundly unprofessional, unproductive and rude form of communication, I think that McGuire's sentiments exemplify something that we're seeing in the comments to my column as well: a belief that arts advocates are concerned with superficial things and not the real, day-to-day things in life.

First, this is not an either/or discussion. No one wants to diminish the experience of families and businesses who have to contend with tagging -- quite the opposite. Illegal tagging can take a huge toll on property values and people's lives. Local business owners that have to paint and repaint the walls of their businesses, at considerable expense, are truly suffering. Some end up relocating -- which is a huge loss.

But let me ask: Could the suffering and hopelessness that McGuire describes with such passion have something to do with what was expressed in TRUE Skool's mural, which McGuire and others simply dismiss as "garbage?" If so, are we better off giving those young people an outlet for the legal, public expression of that trauma? Or do we want to just pretend it doesn't exist? Are we at all interested in the point of view of young people living in our blighted neighborhoods?

There is some evidence that shows that graffiti and mural projects can actually decrease the incidents of illegal graffiti and tagging. See this report from NPR and this article from the Washington Post.

Ald. Witkowiak did make a very sound decision today that's worth celebrating. He had contacted TRUE Skool and the Walker's Point association to asked that a planned mural for 3rd and Bruice streets be postponed. In response, Sarah Patterson and Ursula Twombly, of the two organizations, respectively, indicated that community meetings and communications have been ongoing since last fall and that the sketches of the mural have been posted online. With that, he withdrew his request. Thank you alderman.